Posts
“When you let critical
moments
pass by, it is
later useless
to run after
them to try to catch them”
On 2 November 2008 I wrote an
article entitled “I had a dream: Obama,
President of the United States!”... “I dreamed that Martin Luther King’s dream had
come true. I dreamed that women and men, black and white, young and old could
at last live peacefully in the United States thanks to a President whose skin was
black... Obama represents change, a new paradigm, but also a new style, a new
way of facing challenges, based on ethical values and democratic principles,
with equal opportunities for everybody, and hope for everyone everyday...
Obama, an Afro-American, a citizen of the world for worldwide citizens who are
aware of the world village as a whole and not only of its wealthier areas...
As Maimonides said in his “Guide for the Perplexed”, we need someone at the head of the most powerful nation on Earth who commands respect and confidence, who has the ability and the tools needed to seize an historic opportunity for radical change, allowing subjects, both in the United States and throughout the world, to become citizens".
The dream was made true and, in times that were extremely difficult due to the global financial crisis, trends and perspectives in place during the neoliberal and plutocratic era of his predecessors experienced great changes.
He re-established relations with democratic multilateralism and, for the first time in many decades, listened carefully to the advice of the international scientific community, signing in autumn 2015 the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the UN General Assembly Resolution on the 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals) "To Transform our World".
As Lluis Bassets wrote only a few days after his appointment, “this is a new President for a radically new time”.
After so many unheeded appeals, after so many unfulfilled promises, President Obama’s legacy represented a true pause for hope: for the first time in history, human beings had become gradually aware of the need to join forces to be able to cope with potentially irreversible threats, and to do so based on the recognition of the equal dignity of all human beings and their capacity to express themselves freely, something that has been made possible to a large extent thanks to the new information and communication technology.
I have been repeating for years that it is unacceptable from every point of view that $4 billion dollars are spent every day on arms and military expenditure, while thousands of people, most of them children between the ages of one and five, are dying of hunger... The solution is clear: democratic multilateralism instead of plutocracy.
A refoundation of the United Nations System must be urgently done, starting with the General Assembly which should have 50% of State representatives and 50% of civil society representatives and institutions, with a weighted vote but no veto, and adding to the current Security Council a Socio-Economic Council and an Environmental Council.
A democratic... multilateralism!
A genuine democracy at a local, national, regional and international scale. An
ethical, social, political, economic and cultural democracy such as mentioned
in the draft text of the Universal Declaration of Democracy[1], which was drawn up some
years ago by Karel Vasak, Juan Antonio Carrillo Salcedo… and was subsequently
signed, among other well-known personalities, by Mario Soares, Adolfo Pérez
Esquivel, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Boutros Boutros Ghali..... with the
inclusion of nuances and suggestions made by prestigious experts on these
matters.
I must insist and emphasize that the solution is democracy at a local and global scale: the voice of the peoples, of all peoples. This will allow us to reach the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” proclaimed by the UNESCO Constitution, one of the most enlightening documents of the 20th century which begins as follows: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”. Building peace through education provided to everyone throughout their whole life.
We’ve always lived within the context of the law of the strongest. ”If you want peace get ready for war” said an old and particularly perverse adage. We now have to make the transition from a culture of conflict to a culture of brotherly relations, as stated in article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I would like to emphasize that the past has already been written. The only thing we can do is to describe it and we must do it as accurately as possible.
But we must write all together the future still to come, still to be built, seeking inspiration in the great universal values, pleading for the dignity of all human beings and bearing always in mind that only if we remain united, joining our hands and voices, will we be able to face the manifold global challenges that are looming over humanity at the dawn of a new era, the anthropocene, which calls for audacious approaches and unprecedented responses.
The time for silence and submission is over. The duty to remember and to take action: implementation of the 2030 Agenda; immediate global agreement on the elimination of nuclear weapons; regulation of trafficking and consumption of illegal drugs; elimination of tax havens and plutocratic groups...; a new concept of "human" security; promoting science and the advice of those having the required expertise; reinforcing preventive measures, especially in the field of health; ensuring the independence of justice; education for all throughout life... in order to invent the future and, for the sake of our boundless resilience, never again accept impositions, dogmatism, supremacism... Every unique human being capable of creating, there lies our hope.
With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the helm of the White House, we must be ready to reconsider many assumptions in order “to change direction and embark on a new ship” as so wisely advised by José Luis Sampedro to young people during the 15-M, something we should keep in mind today. The first 100 days of governance leaded by President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris gives humanity the hope that was absolutely indispensable to trigger popular action at world level.
The reinstatement of Rosa Parks' image in the Oval Office is an excellent signal. With her generous and audacious attitude, that humble seamstress inspired Martin Luther King and triggered a huge mobilisation in favour of equal dignity.
At that time citizen participation was limited and required an on-site presence. Today a huge participation is possible in the cyberspace. Today, for the first time in history, “the peoples” may participate and democracy can have a new dimension at a global scale. “Free and responsible”, we must rise to the present circumstances. We can, we must. It is essential to dare... so that the generations that come within a step of ours do not utter those terrible words of Albert Camus, which impressed me so much, and which I have repeated so often: “We despise them because they could have done so much and dared so little”.
[1] https://declaraciondemocracia.wordpress.com/ ”Día 15 de septiembre, Día Internacional de la
Democracia”, blog 18 /09/2018 http://federicomayor.blogspot.com/2018/09/dia-15-de-septiembre-dia-internacional.html , y “Nosotros, los pueblos-Adopción de una
Declaración Universal de la Democracia para entrar adecuadamente en la nueva
era”, 9/10/2018 http://federicomayor.blogspot.com/2018/10/nosotros-los-pueblos.html
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